Offers a presentation of creative nonfiction addressing the author's personal family experiences. Addresses ethical issues involved in creative nonfiction. Describes how she decided to narrate her history and contemplates in depth the artistic choices she made. (SG)

Based on the idea that poetry, like any art, is best mastered through practice, this handbook for poets combines poetry-writing exercises with personal essays by each contributing poet. Some of the poets represented in the handbook are: Maxine Kumin, Rita Dove, Roger Mitchell, Carol Muske, Sydney Lea, and J. D. McClatchy. The exercises in the…

This book contends that, by putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), young people can learn to express their true feelings, understand themselves, create, re-create, and explore who they are and want to be. The book stresses that besides developing and sharpening creative communication skills, personal writing is even good for mental health…

Stresses the importance of using imagery when having beginning writers write poetry. Discusses additional techniques of stressing the unusual, continuation words, the five senses, and repetition of a word or phrase. (MG)

The creative process and developmental stages of writing Haiku are illustrated with examples in the theme areas of beauty, humor, desolation, and companionship. Also noted are the use of rhyming, alliteration, personification, and action, along with the value of poetry writing in learning self-discipline and achieving a healthy mental state. (JDD)

Intended for anyone who wants to write poetry (and do it well), this guide provides the "nuts and bolts" of craft and process, as well as the sources of inspiration. The guide contains brief essays on the elements of poetry, technique, and suggested subjects for writing; each essay is followed by distinctive writing exercises. Included…

This handbook is designed to take aspiring novelists from the concept of that first novel all the way through to completion, including the crucial step of marketing. The handbook discusses shortcuts to help save time, traps all new writers must avoid, inspiration to get a novel done, and checklists to guide every step. The chapters in the handbook…

Based on the idea that no piece of fiction will work without a strong infrastructure, this book explores how writers do what they do. The book uses anecdotes, helpful examples, and imaginative exercises to build a step-by-step approach to the structure of the short story and novel, always keeping in mind beginning and improving writers. Following…

This book is designed to be a how-to-write-fiction guide that is long on specifics and short on theoretical material. Each section of the book deals with a separate element of fiction--characterization, dialogue, point of view, plot, etc. Every exercise in the book is introduced in an opening paragraph, followed by instructions for completing the…

This book offers guidance for poets at every stage of development. It is a book about a person's shaping his or her memory and passions, pleasures, obsessions, dreams, secrets, and sorrows into poems. The book contains chapters on the language and music of poetry, the art of revision, traditional and experimental techniques, and how to get poetry…

Based on a successful workshop, this book presents the basic elements of narrative and a series of exercises that offer a self-guided set of discussion topics and exercises for a writer, a small group of writers, or a class interested in the craft of narrative prose. Topics addressed in the book are: the sound of language; the narrative sentence…

Teachers who restrict their teaching of writing to elements of exposition are likely to fail because there is insufficient content, interest, or challenge in learning simple exposition, and the techniques that contribute to polished exposition are more easily accessible when approached through aesthetic writing. A teaching sequence for using…

With the constant theme of the mysterious process of creativity running through its essays, this book discusses the work of some much admired 20th-century writers--Graham Greene, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Henry Green, Kingsley Amis, Vladimir Nabokov, and Anthony Burgess. The book addresses the situation of the contemporary novelist, both…

Attempting to place in an American context many of the ideas about the teaching of writing that were first developed in England, this book contains contributions from internationally prominent teachers/scholars who attended the New York University-CBS Sunrise Semester course on learning to write and writing to learn. The text also reflects the…

This clear, reader-friendly book is carefully designed to help readers gain confidence and acquire competence in their academic writing abilities. It focuses on real people as they write and actively involves readers in the writing process. The authors' innovative approach encourages reflection on how professional writing initiatives connect to…